My husband and I got married in 2009. We wanted to have kids right away and living in Spain I got pregnant 6 months after we got married. The pregnancy was not what I expected. I felt so sick not just morning sickness but it was like my body had a really bad reaction to the pregnancy. I had headaches all the time and everything hurt. We use to live 30 meters from the beach and I use to go out to walk every day until i realized that every time I went to walk my hands got swollen, some people said that it was because of the ocean and the salt and to put my hands up when I walked, but it got to the point that I just could not walked any more, all my testing was perfect and because I was a... Read More

Mine was horrible. Ill try to keep it short without missing anything. I was 20 weeks or so, just found out it was a girl. I was visiting my family in California and had this awful fever, felt like crap, sweaty, plus a heat rash to the point of blisters. It hurt to walk, stand, everything. I went back to Nebraska and went to my drs appt a few days later. I had a fever of 102.7 and the doctor noticed my feet were swollen. There was no difference between leg, ankle, and that bend to a foot. So she ran some tests, finally was able to get back ahold of me and I was told I have blood clots. Clots going to my lungs and causing pneumonia. I had to rush to a hospital an hour away, get a... Read More

My daughter, Isabel, will be 1 in just a month. Last October, after my first 7 months of pregnancy being absolutely perfect, I began having an elevated blood pressure. At this point, I was having weekly check-ups. I wasn't so worried, my family (mother and teenage brothers) had just moved in with me, so I thought the high blood pressure was a result of stress. My doctor ordered me on modified bed rest, and to have Non-stress tests at the hospital twice a week. My blood pressure never went down, but it wasn't so high that they were too worried just yet. My doctor did find protein in my urine, so i had to collect my urine for 24 hours and take it back. The results of that urine weren't too... Read More

Hi, I'm Latavia and I had a near death experience with preeclampsia. I was 8 months pregnant when I discovered my life would change forever. I went for a regular check up and noticed I was a little more swollen then usual. My doctor didn't think much of it because swelling was normal in a pregnancy. He put me on bed rest and told me to start eating healthier, less salt. He also took me out of school being that I was young I missed a lot. Weeks went by and the swelling had gotten a lot worse from my first visit. My next visit came around and my blood pressure was sky high. My face was swollen, my eyes, my hands, my arms, my feet. I was admitted into the hospital... Read More

What was supposed to be a normal Sunday turned into the worst day of my life. But first, Iâ€™ll tell you how my pregnancy was going. I was 20 years old living with my fiance, Dante, at the time. I worked 40 hours a week on my feet most of the time. I started swelling early in my pregnancy and it was summer time so we werenâ€™t that worried then. Come around my 28-32 week mark, I was severely swollen and was gaining a lot of weight. I had asked my doctor to check further into pre-eclampsia but he assured me everything was â€œnormalâ€. Being a new and young mom I trusted him when I should have trusted my gut.
Â On Sunday,... Read More

Everything about being pregnant was easy for me at first, I loved being pregnant. I was single most of my pregnancy, and my child's father was a big stress. I got my own place, and decided I was raising my daughter with or without him. I was doing great, and then all of a sudden, things turned for the worst. I noticed I was getting dizzy, and feeling really bloated alot. I could barely wear my shoes, and I could not even see between my toes. I had my manager take my blood pressure at work, and it was really elevated. She took it numerous times before I decided to call the doctor. I called the doctor, and I told them what it was, they wanted me to come in as soon as possible. I went as... Read More

I was just shy of 37 weeks when my issue with preeclampsia was discovered. It was time for my routine check up when the Midwife's office noticed the protein in my urine was high.Â I also had major swelling in my legs and feet, which I thought was just a common symptom of pregnancy.Â I had started having minor headaches that I was relating to allergies.Â I consider it a "God thing" that this day I was called back by a nurse that I didn't normally see.Â She also had gone through preeclampsia with her first child, so she knew what I was dealing with right off.Â She shared a brief story with me of her experience before they sent me over to the hospital to have a catheter urine... Read More

My husband and I decided to wait a couple of years before trying to conceive, with work schedules and school we decided to wait.Â Finally we decided to start trying and we got pregnant right away with our first child, we were both so excited.Â Everything was normal within the first few months, and I did not have any morning sickness.Â On our 20 week check up/finding out the sex visit, we were told to go to the hospital.Â My blood pressure was high and was swollen in my legs and feet,Â the doctors diagnosed me with preeclampsia.Â Within days we were faced with a decision to give birth or for me to have surgery.Â I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Lillie on... Read More

As the title reads, I am lucky to be alive.
Last year, I was very surprised when I got my positive pregnancy test. I was still a student, finishing up college; unmarried, and not sure where I was going in life. My son changed everything!
My boyfriend at the time (now husband) was thrilled, he couldn't wait to tell our families; I, on the other hand was extremely nervous! As time passed, things got better and I became more comfortable with the idea of a baby.
I had read about preeclampsia, my doctor had warned me about a few of the symptoms but I didn't believe it could happen to me. I remember my grandma continuing to tell me that she lost her first baby due to,... Read More

Ethan will be turning 3 at the end of this month (October). The month of October always brings up some scary memories andÂ emotions for me... I never thought I would have a difficult pregnancy or labor. After all, why would I? Only two years earlier I had given birth to a healthy, nearly 8 pound baby boy. That pregnancy was free of complications. Birth was easy... Got to the hospital at 7cm dilated - got an IV and epidural and 7 hours later baby came out!
However, I was completely wrong! The pregnancy of our second son was troubled right from the start... A lot of pain and discomfort, poor... Read More

Hello,
My name is Wendy, and I suffered from preeclampsia. I knew nothing about the disease until I was at my 8 month check up. I had been feeling horrible, puffy, my feet looked like little hams and my toes were swollen. Walking was a chore. I was tired and uncomfortable. I attributed all of these items to just being 8 months along. I never experienced carrying to full term. Here is my story...
On Monday, April 16th, 2012, I was scheduled for a 4D Ultrasound at my hospital. When going through the vitals with the nurse, she notified me that my blood pressure was WAY TO HIGH. I told her I was fine, I had a bad day at work and I was just walking so it will go down. The... Read More

My daughter was born sleeping at 32w 5d 11-16-12. I almost passed away as well 11-20-12; the day of Elyssa's funeral due to undiagnosed preeclampsia and chronic hypertension. Â My BP was almost 200/90 and I had mental confusion and memory loss. I did not even remember my husband or that I just had a baby at all. I was hospitalized for 4 days and luckily regained some of my memory and was able to be discharged and survived. I am very fortunate to be alive today.
On 11-6-12 I went to a Dr visit and my BP... Read More

I'm Ashley.
I had a very rough pregnancy with twin boys. I had preterm labor. At 35 weeks I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and was to be induced right away. First, I had an amniocentesis test done to make sure my boys' lungs were mature. If they weren't, I was to be transferred to a bigger hospital with a NICU. Thankfully, they were mature enough to be delivered where I was!
For weeks leading up to my diagnosis, I was put on procardia to keep my uterus from contracting. I was swelling slowly, week by week. The week before I was induced I had gained 11 pounds of fluid. I was hugely swollen! My feet looked like tissue boxes. I was literally swollen from head to... Read More

hi I'm disi andrade alforque 32, preeclampsia survivor.Â
Last year November 19, 2012 I early deliver my child at 34weeks true CS because of my preeclampsia condition and praise God we both survived. What I worry now is my present condition: my monthly period suddenly doesn't come last September 11 which I expected, now to confirm my condition I bought a pregnancy test kit and test myself and it has a positive result. What I worried now was my doctor's advise b4 as she said to be safe, I should reach the three years before I get pregnant again. If not, might my case may repeat? :(( and now it's too early. It's only 10 months since the last time I... Read More

Born September 1 7lbs 12oz 21 1/2in. After the death of my first baby, Jayson, due to preeclampsia it was a long scary pregnancy. But with my doctors help and a combo of medications there was no high blood pressure no preeclampsia and we made it to 40 weeks and 3 days. After 3 days in labor and a successful c section I brought miss Brooklyn Makayla into the world happy and healthy!

I swear I'll try to make this short, but that's easier said than done!
At just 6 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with chronic hypertension. When it came time to do the gestational diabetes test, I was diagnosed with it as well, as I beyond failed it. I was referred to a high-risk clinic at that time. I don't remember the exact timeline, as so much was constantly going on while I was pregnant. I was give the 24-hour protein urine analysis just as a baseline due to the chronic hypertension. The results came back and I was labeled as borderline pre-eclamptic. Due to the uncontrollable gestational diabetes, at 36 weeks pregnant, I went in to have an amniocentesis done to see if my... Read More

On 12/26/12 I was admitted for severely high bp (I had no prior history). While in there, it rose to 220/112 & they thought I was going to have a stroke at 30 weeks pregnant. I spent New Year's and 8 days in the hospital. Was released and told to go on bed rest till I gave birth. Some protein in my urine so they said I had gestational hypertension and early preeclampsia, which they could manage. 1st night home an unbearable pain in upper abdomen, I felt like I was going to die. Called doctor; was told "its the baby pushing up" and normal pregnancy problem, to take a hot shower and go... Read More

My story begins October of 2012, when I found my husband and I were expecting our first child. We were beyond thrilled to experience bringing a new life into this world. My pregnancy started out rocky. I experienced severe morning sickness for the first four months. I was given zofran to make it through my work day as a reading teacher, and re-hydrated at the hospital once as well. I also experienced a night of severe side and back pain which the emergency room chalked up to implantation. Finally at 4 months the nausea began to dissipate and I was ready for the joy of pregnancy to begin. It didn't.
I began to become very tired and out of breath. It was difficult to climb the... Read More

I'm not even sure where to begin. My familyÂ and IÂ are survivors of HELLP Syndrome. Up until a month before my due date, I had what I thought was a relatively normal pregnancy. I felt incredibly nauseous the first trimester, like a million bucks the second trimester and fat, tired and swollen for much of the third trimester. Our little girl was full term and I didn't have many of the symptoms a lot of women have prior to being induced.
On April 22 (exactly one month before my due date), I was put on bed rest. I had mentioned to the Dr in a few previous visits that my ankles were very swollen. They would examine them and tell me that's a normal part of pregnancy, which I... Read More

I have had HELLP with both my previous pregnancies. And now I am expecting my third child. I am wondering when the other shoe will drop. When will I get sick this time? Â The farther along I get, the more I worry. I have been lucky though with my previous pregnancies. I and my children have survived without problems.
With my first child I had a very normal pregnancy until I was diagnosis with gestational diabetes. It was difficult at first to adjust to the diet and medicine, but as a nurse I understood the need for good control of my blood sugar. I also knew that having diabetes put me at a greater risk for preeclampsia. But I had hope everything would work out okay. Everything... Read More

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